Simultaneous hat-tricks from Gonzalo Higuain and Lionel Messi ensured Real Madrid and Barcelona kept up the pace at the top of La Liga.

Madrid remain on top on goal difference and a 4-1 win away to Real Valladolid saw Higuain enhance his strike rate to 18 goals in 21 games this term. Cristiano Ronaldo ensured he remains top scorer for the Bernabeu outfit with Madrid’s other goal in the game, maintaining his goal-a-game ratio of 21 in 21.

At the Nou Camp, meanwhile, a second-half hat-trick from Messi helped Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Valencia. The little Argentine has a goal record to be proud of himself as his treble took his tally to 24 goals in 30 games.

On Saturday night, UEFA Champions League hopefuls Sevilla were held by fellow top-four hopefuls Deportivo in a 1-1 draw. Mallorca’s chances of qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition also took a knock, however, as they went down to a surprise 3-0 defeat to Getafe.

Keeper Juan Pablo was the hero for Sporting Gijon as his penalty save earned his side a 0-0 draw with Athletic Bilbao. Elsewhere, Villarreal edged a step closer to qualifying for next season’s Europa League with a 2-0 win over bottom club Xerez.

Almeria crept into the top half of the table with a 1-0 win over Malaga while Racing Santander and Real Zaragoza shared the points with a 0-0 stalemate at the El Sardinero stadium. In the relegation zone, Tenerife gave themselves a lift with an impressive 4-1 win over Espanyol, which leaves them just three points off safety.

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has said that any attempt by Real Madrid to try and get him to manage the Spanish giants would be a waste of time.

Madrid were knocked out of the Champions League this week and rumours immediately started circulating that there would be a change of manager because of the European exit.

Real are a club who have spent a large amount of money on a few lucky and key players. This money brings with it a tremendous amount of pressure and it’s pressure, which means the current boss, Pellegrini, is on borrowed time.

However, Wenger said: “Leave me alone. I am always going to stay to the end of my contract and I am going (to stay at Arsenal) until 2011. There is no way I am going to break it.”

“For me, it is the worst possible moment to come back on that. At the moment my focus is fully on Hull City (on Saturday) they may be less glamorous than Real Madrid, but they are much more important in my life at the moment.”

“It shows that £240million does not necessarily buy you the Champions League and that in Europe you have no guarantee of success. If you can spend that kind of money every year, you will get there in the end, but at the moment it is difficult for them to take.”

“In the last five years we have been in the final, a semi-final and two quarter-finals in England we don’t rate that as an achievement any more because we are used to it, but that consistency is not easy to achieve.”

There were heavy rumours some years back that Wenger would switch to the Spanish club when his contract ran out at Arsenal and now the same story is starting to appear at a similar sort of time.

There is no reason at all to doubt Wenger’s words. He clearly is going to stay at Arsenal for a number of reasons. The rumours will carry on but there is nothing on them and it would take a special deal to get Wenger to say otherwise.

Wenger is Mr. Arsenal. The entire team plays the way he wants them to and he is at a club where he is the top dog and has the final word on pretty much every thing.

If he did go to Real then he would also be contradicting his own transfer policy and emphasis on bringing players up through a youth system in order to get them to play to their potential.

Real would demand that Wenger spend big money on big players in order to get success and this is something that the Frenchman just does not do.

The only job that would probably get him to leave the Gunners would be the French international job and he would not take that offer until he had won another title or Champions League with Arsenal.

Former England player and current legend, Chris Waddle, has said that Theo Walcott does not understand the game enough at international level.

Waddle is speaking ahead of the World Cup this summer and there is still a big chance for someone in the side to step in and make the right and left wing positions their own.

Waddle was an England regular who played in some of the toughest club and country competitions in the world. He will know better than most the qualities needed to read the game at the highest level.

He said: “People keep saying he’s young but Wayne Rooney understood the game at 16, 17. I’ve never seen any difference in Walcott since he was at Southampton and broke into the team at a very young age.”

“I’ve never seen him develop. He just doesn’t understand the game for me – where to be running, when to run inside a full back, when to just play a one-two. It’s all off the cuff. I just don’t think he’s got a football brain and he’s going to have problems. Let’s be honest, good defenders would catch him offside every time. I just don’t know whether he studies the game, learns the game, or what. He’s at a great club where they play fantastic football week-in, week-out, and I’m just surprised he’s never developed his game.”

“I’m surprised Walcott was in the squad. He doesn’t play a lot of football, he hasn’t done anything. he hasn’t done anything for a long time and I think Croatia was a one-off. I just think he’s got a lot to learn. I’ve been more impressed by Adam Johnson at Manchester City than Theo Walcott.”

Waddle’s comments about Johnson at Manchester City will be echoed by many people within the current football community. It is a little strange how a player who was set to join Real Madrid at one point cannot be good enough to play for his own country.

Walcott is a decent player but the point is he still has a lot to prove on the international stage. Johnson needs a chance and he could be a fresher and surprising choice for England’s World Cup squad this summer.

It is a nice problem for Fabio Capello to have and the boss will be hoping that competition for places continues to stay fierce. The one thing he will not want to happen is a spurt of injuries, which threaten to dent the spine of the side.

You cannot be a bad player if you can score an away hat trick in international football. Walcott needs to work hard and remember that he has a top line manager in Arsene Wenger to go to advice for at Arsenal.

It’s difficult to call all of the midfield positions for England’s squad, which will go to South Africa in June. Walcott and Johnson may well end up both going. Watch this space over the coming months.

Manchester United, Lyon, Bayern Munich and Porto each take a lead into the UEFA Champions League second round second leg after in an intriguing return of Europe’s premier club competition.

With the playing format of the tournament altered this season, just four of the eight second round ties took place this week, with the other four commencing next week, and it was United who gained the most impressive result.

AC Milan 2 Manchester United 3
A brace from in-form Wayne Rooney helped them to a creditable 3-2 win over Seria A giants AC Milan in the San Siro. The rejuvenated Ronaldinho handed the Italian outfit a third minute lead with a deflected volley before veteran midfielder Paul Scholes equalised for Alex Ferguson’s men ten minutes before the break.

The match turned into the Rooney show in the second half, as a pair of headers moved United into control of the tie as Milan’s unfavourable average age began to show as their performance waned. Veteran Dutchman Clarence Seedorf ensured Leonardo’s men hold a glimmer of hope in the second leg with his sublimely taken goal five minutes from time.

United will be without midfielder Michael Carrick for the return leg, however, as he received a foolish second yellow card for kicking the ball away in stoppage time. The English side will no doubt remain overwhelming favourites to progress, with the Old Trafford meeting pencilled in for the 10th of March.

Porto 2 Arsenal 1
Meanwhile, Arsenal have given themselves plenty of work to do as they must overcome a 2-1 deficit after going down away to Porto in a game riddled with mistakes. Lukasz Fabianski was the centre of attention after he gifted the Portuguese side an 11th minute lead after fumbling Silvestre Varela’s cross.

Veteran defender Sol Campbell, making his first Champions League appearance since Arsenal’s 2006 final defeat to Barcelona, popped up with an equaliser soon after but he was at the forefront for Porto’s second in a bizarre phase of play.

Goalkeeper Fabianski was penalised for picking up a backpass from Campbell, before the pair stood aimlessly as the hosts got on with the indirect free-kick, leaving Radamel Falcao the simple task of tapping into an almost empty net with the Arsneal goalkeeper stranded when he perhaps should have been more alert.

The Gunners remain favourites to progress to the quarter finals despite the defeat, with an impressive home record at the Emirates this season leaving them confident the tie is far from over. Manager Arsene Wenger’s injury list should have lessened by then, with his beaten side heavily weakened through injury in Wednesday night’s encounter.

Lyon 1 Real Madrid 0
Elsewhere, Real Madrid have also given themselves an uphill task after they went down to a shock 1-0 defeat to Lyon. Jean Makoun’s screamer was the only goal of the leg, with Madrid’s star-studded side unable to break down the resilient French side.

The Spanish giants have an added incentive in reaching this year’s final as it takes place in their very own Bernabeu stadium, not to mention spending in excess of £250million in the summer in president Florentino Perez’s latest ‘Galacticos’ era.

But they must come from behind in the second leg if they are to continue their quest towards a tenth European Cup. Should they fail to progress, however, manager Manuel Pellegrini’s job could well be on the line.

Bayern Munich 2 Fiorentina 1
The week’s only other Champions League game took place at the Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich took a 2-1 win over Fiorentina in an evenly balanced tie. Former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben opened the scoring from the spot on the stroke of half-time, his sixth consecutive match in which he has scored.

Former Everton defender Per Kroldrup got the Italians back in the contest shortly after the break but the Germans ensured they take a slender lead to Stadio Artemio Franchi thanks to a controversial goal from Miroslav Klose.

It is debateable whether the Germany international should still have been on the pitch after escaping with a yellow for a lunge on Cesare Natali earlier in the match, but there was no debating his equaliser should not have stood.

The 31-year-old, a second half substitute for Thomas Muller, was clearly yards offside when he nodded in a minute from time, leaving the Viola coach Cesare Prandelli livid with the decision and no doubt determined to gain justice in the return leg.

AC Milan midfielder, David Beckham, has said that Sir Alex Ferguson will always be the best manager that he has ever worked for.

Many have suggested that Beckham is looking to settle a score with Ferguson, over the way Beckham was forced to leave the club for Real Madrid over seven years ago. We all remember the stitched eye and stories of a boot being kicked across the dressing room in Beckham’s direction.

However, Beckham insists that there is no bad blood and he has only love and admiration for arguably the longest serving and best manager in the whole of football. There can be no questions at all that Beckham would not be half the player if he had not had the guidance of Ferguson.

Beckham said: “Sir Alex Ferguson was always a father figure to me, always has been, always will be, whether we’ve had good times or bad times and no matter what people have said in the past about our relationship.”

“He gave me the chance to play for a club I’d always dreamt of playing for. I definitely don’t hold anything against the manager — he’s really an incredible man. There are only good memories from Manchester United, nothing else. There’s definitely no score to be settled.”

“It’s the first time I’m going to want Manchester United to lose. But if I scored, I wouldn’t celebrate. I want to score and if I did it would be amazing, but out of my respect for United and the fans, I wouldn’t celebrate.”

Ferguson added: “David left seven years ago, you move on in life. It’s a different team and different players. That’s what happens. I hope he’s not celebrating anyway. David has experience, 100-odd caps for England and has played for Milan, Real Madrid and United. It’s the same experience as the likes of Nesta, Inzaghi and Seedorf. They all have that experience Milan bring.”

“We are peculiar like that at this club because the players, like Beckham, who come through the ranks are always viewed as being better than those you buy. Rooney has been fantastic and he has developed that aura. His form has brought him to the high point of his career, without a doubt. World class is a misused term, but with Rooney, you have to say he is getting to the point where he is now one of the best players in the world.”

It is very clear that Beckham still has a deep love for the club that made him the star he is today. Ferguson played a massive role in making him such a key and important player. However, there will be some hearts in mouths if United concede a free kick on the edge of their own area.

United fans may have mixed emotions when Beckham trots out onto the pitch but he moved for his own reasons and he was a model professional during his time at the club. Hopefully his departure will not come back to haunt them.

David Beckham’s lasting top-flight career at AC Milan proves that he still has what it takes to compete at the very top level.

This is according to Ryan Giggs, a dominant figure in the Manchester United team, while Beckham played the game in England. Giggs is now United’s most experienced player and is wary of the threat David Beckham will have when the two teams meet this week.

Beckham made the big money move over to the Los Angeles Galaxy a couple of years ago and has been playing on loan in Italy in order to maintain his levels of fitness.

Beckham is arguably the greatest dead ball player of his time and this is something that his former club will need to keep a close eye on if they are to progress to the last eight of the Champions League.

Ryan Giggs said: “We are different in the sense he has been in the limelight, front page and back, while I prefer to keep myself to myself. But I still speak to him. He has not changed as a person.”

“He has always loved football. He has always been dedicated and that is still the same now. Like myself, Becks looks after himself. He is naturally fit and is a natural athlete, so I am not surprised he is still going at all. In fact I reckon he will keep going for another three or four years.”

“We had a couple of chances to meet when he was at Real Madrid but it is great that it will finally happen and great for Becks to come back. It will be fantastic for the fans to see him again because he was a great player for United and still is a great player for England and Milan and in America as well. I hope he doesn’t do anything nasty to us. He is a quality player and has always risen to the occasion. Hopefully he will enjoy it – but not that much.”

AC Milan are one of the more under rated sides in the Champions League this season. They have a lot of quality and experience on the field but the over all age of the side is something that many pundits are saying will hold them back.

Beckham will probably want to make a big impression on his return to Manchester as the circumstances surrounding him leaving the three time European champions were less than perfect.

United need to be careful that they do not run around the pitch and give away a lot of silly free kicks. Beckham only needs once chance and he would love to stick it to United despite his admiration and love for the club that raised him.

Many people write Beckham off but his passing is the best in the game. The only thing he lacks is the pace to play at the real top of football for much longer. If United can keep the tempo of the tie up then it could all be too much for him.

With Cesc Fabregas almost certain to leave Arsenal for Barcelona to replace Xavi, Spaniard Manuel Almunia, has stress the importance of trying to keep him in London.

Almunia gave an interview earlier this week, in which he described the midfield player as the most important player in the Arsenal team. At the same time, the good old Spanish media were pestering Fabregas’ Dad in Spain, who said that his son was open to offers from Spain’s biggest clubs.

Believe who you will but it was a member of the Ronaldo family who first spoke of a desired and almost done deal over a move to Real Madrid. The news just goes to show that when there is reported interest in a player from Spain, it is now probably true as opposed to probably rubbish.

Almunia said, “For the supporters, Cesc is a symbol of the club. For the people, he is the best. I have no doubts that he loves the club and Arsenal in general.”

“If he has to go, he will be very sad. That is if he has to leave — I don’t know anything. I think nobody has any doubt that Cesc gives everything to the game. He makes tackles and fights and this is the only thing that the people can expect from him.”

“Arsenal is a big club and we deserve to be criticised because we have been playing for many years without fighting for the title. The team is growing up and everybody accepts it because we cannot say anything when we don’t play well.”

“Against United we were not on our game at any time. Against Chelsea we played well, I thought, but as soon as we switched off a bit, we lost. There are small points we need to improve, not technically or tactically but personally — little things that we have to show more.”

Barcelona have doubtlessly been keeping tabs on Fabregas ever since he emerged as the next big thing from the ranks of the Arsenal youth team. Xavi and Andres Iniesta pull all of the strings in the Barcelona team but inevitably, one will have to fall to age sooner or later.

Step in Fabregas to fill the gap. Barcelona are not a stupid club and know exactly what they’re doing. Arsenal are not a stupid club and know exactly what Barcelona are doing.

Arsenal fans just need to accept that this is something that is more than likely going to become a certainty in the coming months. The London club just need to make sure they can get something out of the deal, which will help them develop as well.

The Spanish media does not do rumours, so when transfer stories appear or quotes are captured from a player’s relatives, there is going to be some truth somewhere. If Fabregas does go then it will be a huge gain to La Liga and another sign of the Spanish league taking over.